*Review* The River That Flows Beside Me by Charlotte Guillain

Genre: Children's 4-7 years

Published: October 24, 2023

Pages: 20

This richly illustrated concertina book takes the reader from the top of a mountain spring, through varying landscapes, and follows a river's journey from its source to the sea. With a focus on the important role waterways play in human and environmental survival, The River That Flows Beside Me explores the changing landscapes along a river's journey and the habits and ecosystems that call the river their home.

A follow-up to The Street Beneath My Feet, The Skies Above My Eyes, and The Sea Below My Toes, this visually stunning book finds the river in the rocky peaks, and tracks it as it winds its way through coniferous forest, gushes through v-shaped valleys, and roars down magnificent waterfalls. Further downstream, readers will journey with the river past beaver dams, floodplains, oxbow lakes, paddle-boarders, bridges, and more.

On your journey, meet the animals that call the river home, including:

• White-tailed deer
• Grizzly bears
• Otter
• Smallmouth bass
• Dragonflies 

With a primary focus on the river's ecosystems, wildlife, and geological processesThe River That Flows Beside Me also explores the way that humans interact with the river landscape, using it both to survive and also to enjoy. The beauty and variety of river landscapes are bought to life by Jo Empson's rich illustrations. 

This book is part of the Look Closer series, a set of concertina books that help teach us about the mysteries and wonders that are found in the world around us.

I received a copy of this book through Netgalley. This is my honest review. 

This is a story about the trip water takes from the top of a mountain all the way to the ocean, and all the things you can see along the way. It covers animals encountered, changing riverbed characteristics, and surrounding scenery. There were loads of different things to look at and name within the illustrations. 

My issue with the book was that it was annoying to read the way it was formatted for digital use, so I'm happy to see, that's not even a purchasing option, because it was honestly kind of awful. Otherwise, the book was very informative and the illustrations really helped to show all the different things one would encounter if they were actually following water from its source to it's end destination. Overall I give The River That Flows Beside Me 4.1875 out of 5 stars. - Katie 

Amazon

Charlotte Guillain lives in Oxfordshire, UK, with her husband and co-author Adam and their two children. She writes fiction and non-fiction for children, including the picture book Spaghetti with the Yeti, which was shortlisted for Oscar’s First Book Prize 2014 and has featured in CBeebies Bedtime Stories. Her first book in collaboration with illustrator Yuval Zommer, The Street Beneath My Feet, was shortlisted for the UKLA Book Awards 2018 and named an ALSC Notable Children’s Book 2018 in the All Ages category, as well as being selected by the Guardian as one of 15 ‘modern classics’. Charlotte and Yuval’s follow-up title, The Skies Above My Eyes, continues with the innovative concertina format of their first book, this time looking up at the sky and universe above us.